


Into the Gammaverse

by DruidoftheLake, SpazzyPink



Category: Earth X (Marvel Comics), Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, The Incredible Hulk (Comics), The Incredible Hulk (TV)
Genre: (aka every bruce), 616 bruce fucks up, Autistic Bruce Banner, Bruce Banner Angst, Bruce Banner-centric, Dissociative Identity Disorder, F/F, F/M, Kid Bruce Banner, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PTA!Bruce, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Werewolf Bruce, a father can be various iterations of yourself from different universes, but what else is new, dad Bruce, from the hulkfam discord, genderbent bruce, if you can Believe, most of the ships are only mentioned, one universe has bruce and hulk as brothers, trans!bruce banner, trans!hulk, universe where hiro is just a baby and not a murder goth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-18 10:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17579345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DruidoftheLake/pseuds/DruidoftheLake, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpazzyPink/pseuds/SpazzyPink
Summary: Bruce Banner has had enough. He's sick of running, sick of hiding, sick of smashing. He wants a cure, but nothing in his current dimension hasworked. In a desperate attempt to find something to eradicate the Hulk once and for all, he turns to other universes.Predictably, things go horribly awry, because ofcoursethey do, and eleven different iterations of him are ripped from their own dimensions and thrown into Earth 616.This should be...interesting, to say the least.





	1. Falling

**Author's Note:**

> FEATURING:  
> corvuss ([ mutantbanner](mutantbanner.tumblr.com%22)) as 616 BRUCE  
> SpazzyPink ([desaeviio](%E2%80%9Ddesaeviio)) as DOC  
> sciencebutch ([hopevandyke](%E2%80%9Dhopevandyke.tumblr.com)) as WEREWOLF BRUCE  
> dr_zofia_bites ([mistyflame1](%E2%80%9Dmistyflame1.tumblr.com)) as Bros!BRUCE AND HULK  
> manicfrost ([antifa-hulk](%E2%80%9Dantifia-hulk.tumblr.com)) as DAVID BANNER  
> dear_dunyazade as BRYNN BANNER  
> [hulksmashin-bannerpackin ](%E2%80%9Dhulksmashin-bannerpackin) as EARTH X BRUCE  
> [verysmallpebblejustleftofyou](%E2%80%9Dverysmallpebblejustleftofyou.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D) as ROBBIE  
> [notthatkindofdoctorbanner](%E2%80%9Dnotthatkindofdoctorbanner.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D) as PTA!BRUCE  
> DruidoftheLake ([albionstrial](%E2%80%9Dalbionstrial.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)) as HYDRAVERSE BRUCE  
> [phantomcreeps](%E2%80%9Dphantomcreeps.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D) as BECK

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER - EARTH 616]**

 

Bruce hesitated for a moment, staring at his disheveled reflection in the monitor before starting the recording.  
“Well... I’m Bruce, obviously. I've been, uh, hiding out in this bunker for the past... Four? Five? Months? It's all blurring together." He frowned, rubbing at his temples and pausing to pull up a log on the screen. "Five months and seven days, to be exact. I’ll cut to the chase. I’ve been toying with the idea of alternate universes ever since I _came back from the dead_ almost a year ago. So I built. This. My last-ditch effort to find something- to find _some way_ to get rid of this, because I’ve sure exhausted my ideas, maybe some other version of me will have the answer. Even biologically.”

  
He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “It’s reckless, it’s _stupid_ , I know. But I don’t have anything else. In case it’s not obvious, I haven’t been doing too great, but what’s new? I can’t find a cure, I can’t _die_ , and they’ll find me any point now- ” He cut himself off, muttered under his breath - “You’re rambling, stop it, Bruce-” and then cleared his throat.  
“Anyways, I’m recording this in case anything goes wrong. I’ve run the simulations about a hundred times, it shouldn’t, but just in case, blueprints are behind me and in the zip drive right here. Fix whatever, you’ll figure it out, if I’m gone don’t fucking bring me back, you know the drill.”

  
“I have a message to a few members of my family with my whereabouts set to go out in about five minutes. If all goes well, I’ll pull one of you assholes out and we’ll figure this out together. If it doesn’t, well, hopefully you’ll know how to deal with ‘em. Here goes.”

  
He stopped the recording, saved the file, loaded up the program. _No going back from here. Hope ya don’t destroy the universe, idiot._  
He wrinkled his nose. No more thinking, just _do_. Slammed the button.

  
It was quiet at first, and Bruce wondered if he’d forgotten to plug something in over there - and then the telling electrical hum, not a simulation this time, and his heart was pounding with anticipation, and his fists clenched as he watched the machinery come to life -

  
And then there was a flash of blinding light and before he could register it - oh _FUCK_ \- he was thrown backwards into the wall and static overwhelmed his ears and filled up his head and he watched as reality itself warped and tore in front of him in a haze of colors too fast and too bright to comprehend and he couldn’t move to hit the kill switch and Bruce, what the fuck have you done and the static turned to a piercing screech.  
And then people started falling.

 

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER & DAVID LOU BANNER - BROTHERS UNIVERSE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEWS bros.mp4]

 

"Uhh, hi! I'm Dr. Bruce Banner!" Bruce runs his fingers through his hair, "I'm a nuclear physicist-turned-superhero. It’s such a long story, but the long and short of it is I can turn big and green and strong. I'm not a fighter - that's my brother - but when i'm not supporting the Avengers behind the scenes, I'm on the field acting as a medic and taking civilians to safety! I'm also a father of three and have three lovely partners in my life" He smiles brightly, eyes bright and jovial.

  
"I'm David. I'm an Avenger and I like to punch things. If you fuck with my family it will not be a fun time for you" David smirks "Like the egghead said, I'm the fighter out of the both of us. I also get big and strong and can break cars in half. I have two sons, Hiro and Skaar, and my wife can kick your ass!" he laughs, "And trust me when I say, you won't like either of us when we're angry."  
"David, that line is so cheesy!" Bruce laughs hard, leaning against his brother.

  
"Not as cheesy as those science puns I heard you and Tony trading an hour ago!" David teases.  
"Oh god, you heard that?" Bruce's face flushes pink.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

This was the latest HYDRA cell discovered, bigger than all the others so far. It was damn hard work trying to clean them out of the world, but progress was being made ever since they got backing from the UN. This cell was in Turkey, and the request for the Avengers to help had been urgent - ten Turkish soldiers had died already to the alien-like weapons the agents had.  
Bruce was called to the field to swipe any data from from the computer servers before it was wiped. Getting into the facility and past any HYDRA agents was easy, their weapons only stung and a swift kick or back hand had them knocked out.

  
"Atomic, are you there yet?" Iron Man's voice crackled over his comm.

  
"Yeah, download is almost done" Bruce brushes a lock of dark green hair out of his face- he should get a haircut soon- before smiling at the finished download, "And we're golden! Data secured and ready for browsing" Bruce made his way through the halls to the outside, ducking under doorways as needed.

  
It was one in the afternoon in Turkey, the high sun making it easy to survey the area. some of the HYDRA building was demolished but most of the agents had been detained.  
David gave a final roar of victory as the last tank was destroyed. He was ready to get home and pass out next to his wife. After the twins had been born he'd went on reserve and this was his first time back in the field. Maybe he was a little out of practice...

  
"Good job Hulk! That's the last of them" Nomad, well he was Steve now that the fighting was done, called out.  
"I hope so" David stretched his arms over his head "God I'm out of practice..."

  
Bruce huffed as he hopped over "You still looked sharp, but maybe you're getting old," his eyes twinkled with mischief.  
David laughed "You wish!"

  
Tony landed nearby "Hey honey, you got the data?" his helmet deformed and he smiled brightly.  
"Yes, Starlight, all right here" Bruce knelt and handed the flash drive the size of tony's hand to him.  
Just as the flash drive passed hands a bright flash of light blinded all of them. Tony staggered back with a shout before the light cleared and his sight came back. Bruce and David were gone.  
"Oh no..." Tony breathed in shock.

  
Bruce became aware in a dimly lit room, machines in every corner. To his left David, still green just like him, was getting his bearings back.  
"What the hell...." he muttered.

 

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER - LYCANTHROPE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW furry.mp4]

 

He had a weird way of curling his mouth around his teeth as he spoke; his top lip shielding his sharp canines from sight. It made people look at him like he was normal, like his teeth weren’t pointed and sharp like small knives. An old beanie slouched over his ears, though on any other month it could have easily been a hood, or a baseball cap - anything to hide the fact that his ears arched upwards like a wolf’s, forming little upside down Vs. His hands were shoved in his pockets, or concealed in clenched fists, or veiled by gloves, because when they weren’t filed down they were claws, long and sharp and deadly. Everything about him was deadly.

  
“Hello,” he spoke, “I’m Bruce, Dr. Bruce Banner,” his tone was lacking in decibels, quiet, just above a whisper, as if even his own voice would be too loud on his sensitive ears. “I, uh, I’m a werewolf,” Bruce briefly bared his teeth, and their points almost glinted in the light, “I have an enzyme that acts much like a polymerase, only it’s activated by the gravitational pull of the full moon. It causes my genome to mutate briefly into that of _Canis lupus_ , or uh. A wolf.” A pause. “It um, happened when I applied a nanotechnology I’d been working on to a wolf and activated it with gamma radiation. Only, Ross kind of locked me in the testing room during it and —“ he sighs, “and I got bitten.” Bruce picks at his worn sweatshirt and flicks a piece of lint off. “So...yeah. Now I have increased hearing, smell, my eyes are horrible and colorblind for a majority of the month, and I can only eat meat most of the time.” Bruce smiles, but it’s tight-lipped and restrained, forced, like he’s doing it solely for social etiquette, not out of any degree of contentment.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

Bruce was in Zurich when he saw it. The black hole, black dots swimming like when you stand up too fast and you see stars. It was a crappy motel room, so run down that he thought it was some weird species of mold, or _something_ , but then he felt a weird let up of gravity, and he floated upwards. His claws - nails, _nails_ , even though they were long and sharp and _unnatural_ they were _nails_ \- clutched the moth eaten bed sheets, but his attempts mattered not. Bruce figured that he’s seen weirder - hell, is weirder - before, as he’s enveloped by a vortex of light and sound. It’s a lot. A lot of things are a lot for him, but this was worse. Sounds barrage his brain and smells wrap around it like a snake and constrict and he can’t breath, he can’t think, _oh God_ —

  
All he leaves behind in that motel room is three dollars in change and a milky way. Shredded bed sheets litter the floor.

  
Bruce’s senses let up in a room. He hears the sound of breathing around him, the pitter patter of accelerated heart beats. He smells dust, stagnation, and _change_.  
Something was happening. Something big.

 

**[DR {** ** _REDACTED_** **}** **BANNER - 616.2 ]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW miss.mp4]

 

This. Was...well, this sure was a development. It wasn't to say that it was never expected for everything to be a complete and utter mess of...well, everything, but, you know - a little variation is good, you know?

The scientist brushed a short dread bang back, keeping a cold, straight pose, still dressed in some rolled up pair of jeans and an oversized but very warm looking black coat. Tech gently hiding among the many pockets within. Bearing a face difficult to read but _definitely_ tired. There was a loud sigh as brown eyes scraped the scene for details, a retrospective moment to absorb (and tell a pestersome voice to relax... _for now_. It remained vigilant however, much like the somewhat tall woman).

  
Not showing much in the way of body language, she looked up and nodded slightly, faintly, ever so faintly. It was restrained by a nagging reminded to be nicer. Or fake it. Fuck it, fake it it was.  
"I see this is .... a 'special' day. I'm tempted to go back home, but I'll ride this out for a moment." Did anything ever only last a moment? No, not with the good old Banner Luck - Cursed shit that was. "--I'm Dr. Banner." Eyes rolled a bit, tone dripping with bitterness. "Though, as far as I can tell it’s a... common theme here. I have to say, it’s not how I intended on spending a Sunday afternoon, but. Why Not. Worse things have happened." She laughed a slight wry laugh, as she broke a smarmy smile to some internal thought or comment.  
"Call me Doctor. Or Doc. Or Banner. I really don't care. Just not _Miss_."

 

[END RECORDING]

 

Sundays were difficult, especially Sunday afternoons, with the occasional morning. Though, a struggle in the latter was absent this particular Sunday, and it rolled into noon with no issue. The scientist took her morning medication, took a shower. Had breakfast with her wife and girlfriend. Took the dog for a walk. Threw something in the washer. This was supposed to be an idyllic, easy day. She had planned to tinker with something later in the evening, but a badly programmed cyborg deer sentry knocked a plant down in the night, shattering the ceramic pot. So she went into the shed to retrieve a new one, left with one in her arms, and then promptly fell into the ground.

  
The new surroundings were darker, lit by computer screens and suspicious equipment. A giant fucking vortex. Great. She Loved those. By instinct, she tried to reach for a gun, a device, _something_ on her hip and found.... nothing. She was gardening before, right. Fuck. Eyes scanned about quickly, and she scrambled to her feet. Performed a mental inventory of what tech she had on hand. It was something to work with, but not what she would have liked. Her brows furrowed and her stance lowered into something more protective. Breath quiet and shallow. Really not how she intended a Sunday to go, but that’s how Sundays always went, anyway.

 

There were people in this room, with more coming. Bolting to the equipment in the wall to get out of the way, she appeared (rightfully) hostile. _Sit down, I'm handling this_ , she reminded herself. An internal argument died quickly before it could begin. She snagged a sharp something from the wall and pocketed it.  
"Where the fuck are we. I've got questions."

 

**[DR** **ROBERT BRUCE** **BECQUEREL “BECK” BANNER - INTEGRATED UNIVERSE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW sap.mp4]

 

“You guys know the story, right? My name is R. Bruce Banner. Kinda. But I'll get to that. I was born, had a terrible childhood, developed a mental illness, got a college education, got exploded, had a few adventures, had a few kids, a few traumas-- a whole, whole lotta traumas...anyway! Fast forward, I died, came back, got possessed by my evil dad, got all the broken pieces of myself to work together to get him out of my head, embraced the broken, terrified inner child I'd been hiding--” he sniffed, obviously on the verge of tears “-- sorry, sorry. Well long story short, I'm big (well, bigger) green, and whole. I'm Bruce, I'm Hulk, I'm Joe, I'm me! Becquerel, the superhero! And I love myself!”

 

[END RECORDING]

 

When it finds him, he's fighting a giant robot. He loves big challenges like these, loves a plan going off without a hitch. An EMF Bomb takes out the leg, lowering the arm enough for him to jump onto it and rip off a finger. He activates his teleporter, ready to poke this thing in it's big dumb eye, but then--

  
He's falling in a direction nobody should be able to fall, falling straight out of reality. When he finally rematerialized, he's somewhere else. He lands hard but on his feet, cracking the ground below with his giant frame and shaking his glasses loose. This couldn't have been that science fair project's doing, could it? No, something else must have happened. "Okay, that was unexpected." He picks his glasses up, wiping the dust off before returning them to his green, curly head. "Now who decided to interrupt me while I was work--"

  
  
He recognizes them immediately. It's him. _Them_. The people he used to know. The people he used to _be_.

  
  
"... _Bruce_."

 

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER - PERFECT UNIVERSE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/[INTERVIEW pta.mp4]

 

“Guess it’s my turn! Hi, I’m Dr. Robert Bruce Banner. I grew up in Ohio in a pretty _unhappy_ house. When I was eight, my mother and I left my father and she filed for divorce. He ended up in jail after that, so it was smooth sailing from then on out! Life was pretty normal after that. I graduated with high honors, got a full ride to Culver University where I got a doctorate in not _only_ biochemistry but also nuclear physics. I got married to my college sweetheart, Betty Ross. We both settled in at Culver, bought a house and started our careers as professors there. Eventually, our little family grew from two to five and now I stay home for the kids. There’s nothing more rewarding than being a parent… Anyway, there was some rip in the space time continuum and now I’m here.”

 

He smiles, as if lost in a daze, “This is a scientific marvel…” he snaps back to reality, “but if I don’t get home soon then who’s going to get the kids from school ?!”

 

[END RECORDING]

 

Bruce was down in the basement. He'd spent his day pretty productively. He taught his class in the morning, got the kids out of school by the end of the day, drove them to their respective friends houses, prepared dinner for himself and Betty, (putting her portion in the microwave for when she got home, of course), started a load of laundry and then resided in their basement, which was equal parts storage and equal parts lab. Although he didn't work in the military anymore or heck, even full time, he still made sure the craft he got his degree in was still getting put to good use. Music played loudly as he jotted down some formulae onto a page, eyes squinting at a cell of irradiated blood from a rat at Culver he'd been working with through his microscope. It was almost like he didn't hear the portal open up, though he did feel its winds.

  
Bruce's attention turned and so many things ran through his head as he was pulled up and away from his home and into the colorful portal. It reminded him of the tunnel in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Except when he hit the ground, it felt like it all stopped too suddenly. His body ached and he checked his glasses in his shirt pocket - a little askew but not broken - then  he looked at… someone that looked like himself, in some ways more than others, and he felt a feeling of dread in his stomach.

  
  
"What is going on?"

 

**[ROBERT “ROBBIE” BRUCE BANNER - THE SLOWER PARALLEL UNIVERSE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW kid.mp4]

 

The little boy pulled at the sleeves of his slightly too-big sweater, tugging it down with small, bony hands. “Hi. My name is Robert Bruce Banner...but I like Robbie better.” He seemed to be considering the words he said very carefully, and uttered them at a volume that would’ve taken very trained ears to hear, “I’m five years old and three quarters. What else do I say? Uhmm..” he paused for a minute, brows furrowed in concentration. “Oh! I have a little cousin named Jennifer. She’s a couple years younger than I am. She’s still a baby. She lives with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Morris. They’re really nice and give me candy sometimes when I visit. The caramels are the best. I want to try the peppermints, but mom says I can’t…”

 

[END RECORDING]

 

Robbie is five (and _three quarters_ ) years old, riddled with bruises—skillfully covered by Mom in baggy, just slightly too big clothes and long sleeve everything—and poking around in Dad’s home lab while he’s away at work and Momma is taking a well deserved nap. Robbie knows how to cover his tracks. It’s not the first time he’s snuck into the lab to peak around, and it won’t be the last. After all, curiosity may have killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back. It’s a mess of papers and equations he doesn’t quite fully understand yet. But he’s smart. He believes he could figure it out eventually.

Then he falls and falls and falls into blackness.

When he’s transported to the bunker, his first instinct is to assume it might have been his fault. Maybe he messed with the wrong piece of equipment. But he hadn’t touched anything. He was always very careful of that. He lands with a thump and scans over the room, taking in as much information as he can. They’re all adults. Some look more familiar than others. A few look a little _too_ familiar for his liking. He’s curling up against a wall, trying to make himself as invisible as possible around these familiar strangers.

 

**[DR ROWYN BRYNN BANNER - DW-02]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW waitress.mp4]

 

The woman looked so incredibly out of place. Not only was she easily stunted in growth, but she donned what seemed to be a waitress’ outfit: a blue dress and apron, complete with a heavy yellow sweater on top. Her thumbs were running over one another, hands clasped in front of her chest. She coughed, a tight, quick sound, and looked up from her shifting fists. After second thought, she shoved them into her pockets.

  
“Uh, I’m Banner—Brynn. Brynn Banner.” She paused, inhaled, continued, “Doctor Brynn Banner, I guess. Haven’t been much of a doctor for a while.” She gave a dry laugh, wiping at her eyes.

  
“I think I’ve got a pretty short story, so far. Uh... My dad was taken when I was six. Probably a bit different for others.” She twisted her on sleeve, her face contorted into a look of reminiscence, then shifted to a look of indifference as she stated, “My mother is dead, though.” Then a halfway smile. "I have a cousin, Jamie. He's still alive, though. Thank god.

  
"Oh, also... I have the government on my ass, too. General Ross, of course. Seemed to be a similar thread." Brynn twisted the ring on her pinkie finger, exhaling a few times without inhaling.

  
“And, uh, now I work with the Avengers. Well, my world’s Avengers, at least. Probably a bit different than others. Yeah, ah. That’s... about it.” She shifted her weight to her left side, leaning on the wall behind her, trying to keep her wavering breath quiet.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

It was a fine night. Normal - calm, even. Brynn took a few orders, washed a few tables, had a few uncomfortable looks from single and married men alike, and at 9:45, she got her check and started towards her apartment. And that all seemed fine too! It should’ve been an alright Friday night. She even had plans to go to Stark Tower later to work with Talya.  
So just how the hell did this happen?

  
All she really remembers turning into an alleyway, and hearing a loud crackling that sent her hands over her ears. She winced, eyes closing tightly, trying to block it out and walk away as quickly as possible. Her heart stuttered a few times, and her head began to ache. That...wasn't usual. Well, it was, but not unless she'd recently had an Incident. It was clear some weird shit was going to happen, and she refused to be a part of it. These last few weeks were weird enough.

  
She hadn’t even realized a panic attack began to settle in until she landed face-first onto a cold floor that was definitely not the pavement of the alleyway.

 

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER - EARTH X]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW gorilla.mp4]

 

Hulk grunted, a gentle growl leaving his lips as he surveyed the area. There was...so much radiation in the air...so much energy…

He clenched his fists and ground his knuckles into the dirt. This Hulk had a dead stare, a large maw and protruding forehead along with great powerful arms. Bruce sat perched comfortably on Hulk as per his usual. He could feel his body tingle all over.

  
“I’m Bruce, I’m sure you’ve all shared the same story as I have, just with some variants here or there - Easy Hulk.” Bruce interrupted himself as he patted the base of Hulk’s neck. “My story goes a little bit further...where I’m from, well...long story short...” Bruce clutched his chest. “I have something called a Celestial Seed inside of me. For all of you, your gamma levels stabilised. I continue to absorb gamma radiation - still do actually.”

  
He huffed a laugh, though it was humorless. “I mutated to the point that Hulk and I physically split. Obviously by my appearance you can tell it affected me drastically.” Bruce explained sardonically as he adjusted his glasses - they were useless now of course, as the young boy’s eyes were a glazed blue, but for whatever reason he continued wearing them. Almost as if it gave him some tiny comfort of normalcy. A small weight that not only clung to his face but to his past self, as well.

  
“So obviously I would appreciate you talking to me with respect despite my stature.” Bruce almost had an air of hostility around him, he wasn’t judging any of his alternate selves prematurely but he was use to people choosing to not take him seriously.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

One would imagine that after you helped save quite literally the entire world, you would deserve a break. One would assume that that would be the least the world could give you as a reward. Evidentially Bruce Banner does not get that luxury.

  
Hulk had seemed to sense it moments before it happened. He was grunting and flaring his nostrils as the great behemoth sensed the dangerous and unstable energy sprinkle its way into the air.  
Bruce squinted as Hulk wildly looked around, trying to find the source of the heavy new energy. Fortunately for them, it didn’t take long before the source revealed itself in the form of a giant portal cracking and swirling into their room.

  
“Interesting,” Bruce mumbled. He wasn’t afraid - no, after all he’s been through many portals himself. So Bruce, if anything, was mostly just interested in it’s sudden appearance.  
It wasn’t until he felt a tug that he began to panic. A portal was one thing, a portal physically pulling him towards it was another. He felt his lithe body lift, and suddenly weightless, Bruce was swept off Hulk’s shoulders and flying towards the portal.

  
He felt relief when the Hulk reached out and grabbed a fistful of the scientist's shirt, however this was only a brief moment of satisfaction as the portals wind seemed to increase in strength and soon the Hulk was catapulting towards the portal as well.

  
Bruce groaned and felt his head, feeling an aching throb in his skull. He felt a chilling panic as he saw darkness. The Hulk was also unconscious it would seem. Ignoring his developing headache he willed the Hulk to awaken and soon his distinct vision came fluttering back to his senses.

  
He sat up as the Hulk came knuckle walking towards him. Bruce rested his hand on Hulk’s bicep to keep him calm. A disoriented Hulk is not a good Hulk, for it can lead to a raging Hulk, and Bruce needed to decipher whether or not he was surrounded by friends or foes before he unleashed that fury.

  
What he did see had the scientist gasp. It wasn’t often he saw something that left him speechless, yet here he was, surrounded by...himself? His old adult body...quite a few of them at that...  
Bruce sighed and pinched his nose, shock well worn off. Great. Just what he needed. Multiverse Bruce’s...a new adventure to deal with. Bruce had just wanted a break, was that really so much to ask for?

 

**[DAVID BRUCE BANNER - 70s]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW gramps.mp4]

 

The clearly nervous man fidgeted with the strap of his bag. "Hello, my name is - well I might as well just tell you my real name, since McGee didn’t seem to follow me into - what ever I've stumbled into this time." he sighs says with a firm nod.

"My name is Dr. David Banner, physician and scientist. It all started when I lost my wife in an accident. I...I wasn't strong enough to get to her. As months passed, I buried myself in my work. Soon Elaine - my work partner - and I were studying the hidden strength present in the human body. I see now, that my passion for it wasn’t just science, but my heart, wanting Laura back ." His voice cuts off as drops his gaze to the ground "-wanting to somehow go back and lift that car. Wanting to be stronger. Later, I discovered increased radiation as the cause of our subjects sudden strength. I ended up accidentally exposing myself to high levels of gamma radiation. My selfish choice and poor judgment created the Creature. It set off a series events, with a fire that left my partner, my career, and me, on paper, dead. Unfortunately that damn investigative reporter... McGee happened to be there to see me running into the burning building and the Creature exiting. He assumed it to have murdered my partner and I. Since then I've been on the lam. I'm searching for some way to get rid of the monster I created" lifting his gaze again he looks around at the others with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

It had been 3 hours since he had to make an hasty exit out of another life he’d built for himself. David Bard would now be a missing person.

David Bard had managed to last a month and a half, with no visit from the Creature nor an appearance from Mcgee. He’d found an honest job at a local ranch with room and board in a neat little apartment above the local grocer. He was going to beat his no-green-giant record, and he almost did. Then that store was about to get robbed that morning, and, well, the Creature made an appearance.

The grocer would be losing more money fixing the counter and window-front he destroyed than the, what, 50 dollars the thieves would have managed to get. They were just a couple of kids, and David hadn’t meant for the Creature to appear, he was just trying to talk the lead kid into lowering the gun, when his buddy kicked him in the back of the knee. It was for the best of the town if David left. He’d slipped back into the room through the back to grab his bag. He didn’t have the time for any goodbyes, not even a note.

So it goes.

McGee was sure to turn up in town tomorrow, and he was David Banner again, so it was time to leave.

He’d been trekking this Nevada stretch of a road for what felt like a lifetime and he hadn’t seen a single soul. The sun was starting to disappear on the horizon as dusk set, which made the headlights approaching him all the more startling. It was an awfully nice looking car for the middle of nowhere. David stopped and stuck out his thumb hopefully, and the car crawled to a stop. “You going our way mister?” the driver was young and friendly, looking at him with a semi-forced smile, while the man sitting in the passenger seat was a polar opposite, clearly not pleased with his drivers choice to stop for this man. It wasn’t him David noticed. It was the scared young girl in the back seat. A façade was weakening. David started “I’m, ah, just looking to get to the nearest town for work, you see, if you could give me a lift if it doesn’t trouble you too much-“

  
So here David was, in another car trunk. He’d elbowed the man in the passenger seat - who turned out to be holding the kids up - pretty hard when he’d convinced him to let him have a look at the cars flat tire, enough to distract him to shout for those poor kids to make a break for it. He hoped they were ok. He, on the other hand, now had a sore head from the man knocking him out and cramming him in the trunk and jacking the car. He was kicking and shouting, and he could feel another visit from the Creature coming on, when suddenly the trunk floor seemed to open under him. Had he kicked that hard…?

Only he was falling for way too long instead of thudding onto the road. He hit cold, hard floor, his head making a hard thunk noise, knocking him out before his eyes could change green. When he came to he was amidst chaos, surrounded by an interesting cast of characters, some of them…green? He groaned, “Would any of you mind,” he sat up, pulling his sore body to lean on a wall “telling me what the fu-“ he noticed young kids were present and corrected himself  “-heck is going on here?”

 

**[BRUCE - HYDRAVERSE]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW other kid.mp4]

 

The kid was scrawny as all hell and seemed to be wearing a bunch of rags stitched together. His eyes darted quickly between each person in the room, never making eye contact. His back was placed carefully to the wall, and as he spoke he continuously ran his thumb over a messy seam in his sleeve.

"I'm uh... I'm..." he paused, then his gaze hardened and he nodded minutely to himself. "Bruce. My name is Bruce. Like most of you I guess. Seems there's a lot of shitty universes out there but I still think mine's gotta be one of the shittiest. A powerful organization called HYDRA has either taken over or taken down every government the world had, and now they're focused on creating "the new world order" trying to get all the civilians to be compliant too."

He stopped again and bit his lip, lowering his eyes while still appearing entirely alert. "Or at least that's what Tony tells me. I wasn't really around for much of it. I've been in HYDRA's, uh... care... since I was a child." He lifts his eyes again, surveying the room more slowly this time. "Apparently most of you have Hulks too. That's... nice? Hulk's been around since some of HYDRA's first experiments and I can't really remember a time without him, but we're still getting used to being... well, y'know, free, so it's... well, we're working it out."

 

[END RECORDING]

 

It was weird having these new people here. Bruce knows that he's the one that said they should stay, so he's really being a hypocrite by not wanting anything to do with them but...it had been just him and Tony (and Hulk of course) for a couple years now. It had been hard enough for him to get used to Tony, and now there were three objectively very dangerous people living in what has become his home. Excuse Bruce for being a little wary.

  
Bruce was just finishing preparing a meal for everybody. He did have to admit it was nice to have Clint around if only for the change of diet. He and Tony would never have had venison before.  
He placed the food and dishes on a tray and carried them into what had become the designated eating area. Since Steve arrived he's insisted they all eat together. Says it's good for all of them to have casual human connection. Bruce figures he's not wrong.

  
When he walks in Tony is either fighting or joking with Clint -  it's hard to tell which, and Steve and Natasha are sitting quietly. Hulk presses against his consciousness at the sight of them, still wary after over a week of seeing them every day. Bruce presses back in what he hopes is a reassuring psychic gesture. It's ok. They're safe.  
Bruce is placing everything on the old storage container they've been using as a table when he feels everything slip sideways. He hears Tony call out for him, hears the crash of a ceramic plate, feels his body hit the dirt floor and slide along it, and then he hits ANOTHER floor somewhere completely different.  
  
This was bad. This was very very bad.

  
Hulk pushes with a ferocity this time and Bruce can feel a transformation coming on in the green at the edges of his vision and the aching buzz beneath his skin. But he pushes back still, just for a moment, because he needs to assess the situation: check if there are any civilians, see if there's a clear exit. Once Hulk takes over it's gonna be a blind fight for survival and Bruce needs to get him this information first.

  
It's definitely a lab, which is bad, and there's a ton of other people here, which is also bad. And ok, that definitely looks like another Hulk. Shit.

 

**[DR ROBERT BRUCE BANNER - Marvel Cinematic Universe]**

 

[USER/Bruce B/Science/Weird Shit/me fucking up the universe/INTERVIEW mr melodramatic.mp4]

 

Bruce was... well just a little shocked to say the least. All these different Bruces (his mind was not being helpful, trying to think of the right term for multiple Bruce Banners and Hulks).

“Uh...well...I’m Bruce Banner?” God that sounded ridiculous in his head. Of course he was Bruce Banner, they all were. “...You all know about Hulk. I work with Tony Stark, Thor, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff, and Steve Rogers: the Avengers. We ended up picking up some new people during what could basically be called the end of the world... so, uh... at this point I’m not really sure what’s happening, if I’m going to be honest. I was just going over the list of the missing and now I’m here....”

Bruce wasn’t sure how his introduction sounded. If he was going to be honest he needed a gallon of coffee and five years of sleep just to recover from what he knew had happened, never mind this sudden conglomeration of people who were both him and not him at the same time. As brilliant as his mind may be he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to wrap his head around whatever was happening.

 

[END RECORDING]

 

The day had started as uneventful. Nothing much happening here, or... that’s what Bruce had thought. Just another day trying to figure out what, or even who could possibly help reverse what had happened with Thanos and the snap. The lab seemed too large and too quiet without the usually loud and playful Tony messing around in there. The silence was deafening to Bruce. He used to be able to spend hours in the labs with no issues but now it was too much for him.

He had stepped out for some air after running into yet another dead end. They seemed to pop up a lot in his search, he wasn’t too surprised really. Trying to figure out how to get people back after being turned to dust was incredibly hard for one scientist. Hell, a whole army of the brightest minds available would have a hard time at it.

  
Hulk still hadn’t come out, Bruce wasn’t sure if he should be relived about it or worried. There was already so much he was worried about at this point, what was one more thing to be added? As he walked around the compound something seemed odd. Not that anything really seemed right anymore but whatever this was seemed more off.

Like any curious (and admittedly slightly unconcerned for their own safety) person would, Bruce approached the strange spot at the edge of the compound. As he got closer he only grew more confused over it. It seemed like a portal. A portal? Hold on, maybe this could lead to some sort of help. Before he could turn and head back for the compound and let someone know there was a slight possibility of help he was sucked in.

His sight flickered for a moment and in the back of his conscious he heard Hulk make a confused noise, the first real noise from the other inhabitant of his mind in ages. As his vision cleared he froze in shock. All around him were... hulks... and other people. Some of them seemed close to his own appearance while others seemed totally different. He cleared his throat and looked around, not really sure what was happening or if he should speak up or not.


	2. Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hulk outs, anxiety attacks, meltdowns - oh my!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully this is somewhat comprehensible lol

[Users/Bruce B/New Mexico Gamma Base/Security footage/MACHINE ROOM.mp4]

**[BROTHERS]**

David was well aware he was big. Even in human form he was big and intimidating, taller than most. And he didn't blame anyone for being wary of him at first. Yeah, it stung, sure, but people often apologized for being scared of him after knowing him for a while. So whether he was 6 feet or 8 feet, he tried to be non-threatening around new people; keep his voice down, keep low, give the other person plenty of space, smile and don't move too fast.  
Despite not knowing if these people were friends or enemies, he knelt onto one knee and kept his hands visible. He figured it would be best to let his brother talk, he was better at that.  
"Where are we, and what is going on?" Bruce kept his voice calm and quiet even though he wanted to raise it into a demanding shout. Being intimidating wouldn’t do anyone any good right now. Most everyone here looked just as confused as he, and David had an inkling that they all also had nothing to do with this.  
Bruce's eyes swept over the gathered bodies. Most of them... looked like him, oddly enough. _Was that a child?_ There were women and... _is that a fucking gorilla?_ God, okay, whatever. His life is already so goddamn weird he might as well just go along with it.

**[DOC]**

Alright. This situation was...weird, to say the least, but Doc has been in weirder. She’s gotten used to it at this point.

People seemed to stop falling from nowhere, and additions to the crowd began to creep to a halt. Doc straightened her posture in an attempt to look in control, despite the stressed out reminder that shit was fucked up from various members of her system. _Like I couldn't just figure that out by looking, Hulk? And of course it’s different than visiting other universes, Professor, I didn’t choose to be snatched from my own reality today. I was_ gardening.

Fucking _hell_. Chill out.

She tucked a dread that had fallen out of the loose knot on her head behind her ear and out of her face. Scanned the room.

Main observation: a lot of guys. Okay. Predictable. Disappointing, but predictable.

Second observation: There were variations of her, weird ones, too. Ones that she probably couldn’t even come up with. There was a fucking _gorilla,_ mounted by a child who seemed _far too calm about this_ , but hey, maybe it's not his first interdimensional rodeo either.

Third observation: there were a lot of bad reactions, which manifested in a few ways.

Panic Attacks. Hulking out. Just your usual fight or flight instincts in play.

"Well..," she started softly, but definitely somewhat audibly. "We're not in Kansas anymore."

\-- _And I hope I have the right guy to yell at by that machine._ She squinted.

**[BECK]**

It was like being in his inner world again, panic and worry and all. It was mostly Bruces, though not entirely: there was his childhood personality Robbie, a kid with an ape, a woman or two.

It smelled like multiverse shenanigans to Beck, but it was about to smell like a disaster if this didn’t calm down.  
"Bruce, Robbie, Hulk, Everyone, take a breath. Nobody here is going to hurt you. We're gonna figure this out, we just have to stay calm."

 

**[HYDRAVERSE]**

Bruce couldn’t calm down.

There was no holding the transformation back. Bruce was panicking and Hulk was panicking this was the only system they had: protect. As Bruce's bones cracked and his skin stretched and his consciousness retreated he was dimly aware of someone talking and that voice was way too calm, too carefully even, this was bad, bad, bad.  
  
He was in the brief space between a full switch of consciousness, the clearest time he could talk to Hulk when he wasn't meditating or sleeping.  
  
"There are others. Other... us-es. Get to the door, it doesn't look reinforced. We don't stand a chance against all of them."  
  
Bruce could feel the panic radiating off of Hulk. He wishes he could be more useful here. He feels Hulk acknowledge him -- a nod if they had a physical form in this space. He's going to get them out of here. The bad people won't get them again. Hulk won't let Bruce down again.  
  
Hulk bursts into the chaotic room. It's time to go.

 

**[BROTHERS]**

Bruce saw the lone teen of the group start changing. Well, he thought it was a teen; he looked so scrawny it was hard to tell. He got low like his brother, too, keeping his hands visible.

"Honey, it’s alright! You're not in danger, there's no need to transform, just breathe," his paternal instincts were in full swing.

 

**[616]**

Half of him screamed to _run, get away from here, what the fuck have you done_. The other half was curious, wanted to help, wanted to take responsibility for once. He stood frozen at the front of the commotion for a while, torn, knuckles white and gripping the console beside him.

Oh, he fucked up. Oh _god_ , he fucked up, things did _not_ go as planned. He couldn’t hide; he was in a room with _himself_ , for God’s sake, all volatile and confused - but from the pointed looks he’d gotten, some of them already knew.  
The last vestiges of the tear in reality had almost fizzled away entirely. He swung over to try and reverse it, but the console was fried beyond repair. Bruce swore under his breath, turning back to survey the group. One towered above the rest, green and person-shaped, trying to calm everything down, and Bruce stepped forward, inhaling; deciding it was best to clear things up as soon as possible.  
"I-uh-" He stammered, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry. My fault, I'll have everything under control-" There's an internal chuckle, a _Bad lie, Banner_ "-in a minute, just, no one panic."

_You shut it,_ he replied, inhaling sharply.  
And then before he could fully process it, Bruce found himself rushing towards the kid transforming in the middle of the group. "Kid- Hulk! Stay there. Stay there, you're safe, _fuck-_ "

 

**[HYDRAVERSE]**

**There was someone running toward Hulk. It was a puny human, easily smashed, but he looked like Bruce, and Bruce said** ** _go_** **. There were three other big green men and one big green animal, and Hulk had to get Bruce and Hulk away from the bad people.** **  
** **  
** **Hulk pulled violently away from the Bruce-like man and bounded toward the door on the other side of the room.** **** _Escape. Get out, get safe, get home. Go, go, go._

 

**[BROTHERS]**

"No, wait!" God, this kid looked scared out of his mind. "Please, we are just as confused as you are, you're safe!" He really didn't want to get physical. Bruce turns to David.

"Get small, he might be scared of us" and he started to shift back to human form, the nanotech clothes shrinking with him.  
David had a conflicted look on his face. He wanted to grab the kid, hug him, tell him it was alright. But given how freaked out he looked, that might not be a good idea. But then again, everyone here seemed to look like his brother, so maybe...  
"Bruce,” he hoped he said the right name, “you're safe," David stepped past his brother. "No one here will hurt you." He’d never been one to hide how he feels, so worry and concern were obvious in his voice.

"Bruce, you're safe!"

**[HYDRAVERSE]**

**Reaching the door, Hulk paused. The bad people didn't call him that. They didn't call Bruce that either. Only Tony called them that, and Tony was good, safe. Keeping his back to the wall right next to the door, ready for things to turn violent, Hulk poked Bruce inquisitively. He could feel Bruce's curiosity in turn, how would the bad people know his new name? The two came to a mutual agreement. It still wasn't safe, but this warranted** ** _careful_** **investigation.** **  
** **  
** **Not moving, muscles tense and ready to fight or run at the smallest sign of trouble, Hulk turned to the man who had just been big and green but was now pale and small - well, small** ** _er_** **\- and in a low growl asked, "Who you?"**

 

"My name is David," David smiled, and  _man,_ it was weird to see a scrawny teen version of himself. "I'm a superhero, I protect people. You don't have to run, I know this is scary and confusing - believe me, I know - but let’s stay here for a bit and see if we can't fix this mess."

David took another step towards the kid, hands still visible, with plenty of space between them. "You don't have to change back if it makes you feel safer, but I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

 

**Hulk didn't know what to do. The man said he didn't want to hurt him and didn't seem to be trying to, but it could be a trick. Hulk looks to the others in the room. They were all gathered around a machine, talking about universes and cures, only sometimes looking over to Hulk. The man in the white coat (Bad. White coats bad) that had run toward Hulk before and yelled for him was now surrounded by the others.**  
**  
** **Hulk wished he could talk to Bruce, not just feel him, but Bruce seemed as confused and torn as Hulk. Hulk didn't want to turn back to Bruce, not when he didn't know if it was safe. But maybe,** ** _maybe_** **, these people really weren't trying to hurt them. That still left an important question. Hulk looked back to David.** **  
** **  
** **"How you know Hulk and Bruce?"**

 

Okay, the kid wasn’t running, that was good! Progress! Wait... _Hulk and Bruce_? What did he mean by... And suddenly, all the information from the last few minutes clicked into place: why he and Bruce were the only pair, why there were only other Bruces, why this kid's mutant form looked so much like _him_ and not Bruce… Christ, this really _was_ something out of a comic book!  
"My brother over there, his name is Bruce too. He and I are a lot like you. I think we _are_ you. From a different world. There's another name I go by when I'm saving people... Hulk. Bruce is my brother, I care a lot about him, I protect him too - like you do, and he protects me"

 

**A different world? So not bad people copies? Hulk still didn't know what to do, still didn't know how to tell if the man (David? Hulk?) was lying. Bruce would know what to do. Should Hulk let Bruce take over? What if these people hurt him once he did? David seemed kind, nothing like the bad people. A quick glance out the door behind Hulk showed nothing dangerous, no people ready to stop Hulk if he tried to run.** **  
**  
**In the back of Hulk's mind, Bruce was slightly calmer than he had been.** **  
**  
**"If Bruce hurt, Hulk smash," Hulk growled at David, baring his teeth to get his point across.**

 

"I swear on my life, I will protect you." David smiled warmly and held out his hand to... Hulk. Wow. Okay, this was gonna be a trip. There was something about kids that just got his paternal side going, and the fact that this crazy situation was happening was only going to make him go full papa bear mode. He could already tell.

 

**Hulk looked down at the offered hand. There were few times in Hulk's life when touch was offered and not forced, and that was when Hulk was touched at all. Ever so slowly, Hulk reached his own hand down and gently touched the palm of David's hand. When there was no immediate backlash or pain, he carefully turned his palm and cupped the underside of David's hand. David's hand was warm like Hulk's, and his smile was soft.**

**Hulk began to grow smaller and his hand fell away, grasping at the wall for support. Hulk's mind turned inward, reaching past Bruce's. As the two switched places, Hulk reassured Bruce, "David say protect. No hurt." Bruce was still hesitant, but with any luck,** **_(Ha! When had they ev_** _er_ _had that?)_ Hulk was right about this other-world version of himself. Bruce blinked into consciousness, sitting against the wall next to the door, a tall but gentle-looking man standing above him. He really hoped this didn't blow up in his face.

 

David crouched down to the kid’s level.  
"Hey kid, how about we go over to the group and listen in. I'll introduce you to my brother, I think you'll get along." David gave a bright smile.

 

Bruce tried to control his breathing, reminding himself that he didn't appear to be in any immediate danger. See? Smiling. Friendly people smiled, right? This would be one hell of a trick for HYDRA to pull off when they already had the jump on him. It didn't make sense for HYDRA to go through all this trouble of deceiving him, right?  
  
The man - David - did help to alleviate some of the immediate fear, though it was still difficult to combat his instinct to run. Bruce glanced past David to the group of people, of _himselves_ , gathered on the other end of the room. They seemed to be ignoring him, not getting ready to subdue him, which was good. There were two open doors: two clear exits in case things turned sour. That was good too. No one was holding any clear weapons, and there were two children in the room who didn't seem overly afraid. Those were all good signs. Just had to get over the seven-foot tall green man and the _fucking gorilla_ and everything's good. Okay, time to get answers.

  
Bruce turned back to David and nodded silently. He braced himself against the wall, stood up on slightly wobbly legs, and began following David over to David's brother and the others, trying to keep everyone in the room - as well as at least one exit - in view the whole time.

* * *

 

**[70s]**

David stood back up. The room seemed to be quieting down after the other David and his brother had comforted Bruce. The young man seemed uneasy to his surroundings, like there was a time he only knew pain. David wondered what kind of life he had lived before. The thought of someone hurting this kid sent a pang through his heart. What had _all_ of these people been through? He wanted to help them all; they needed protection, though some seemed perfectly capable.

He certainly wouldn't mind staying here forever, away from his problems and a chance for a cure at least, but most of these people were clearly living lives. One was wearing gardening gloves. Whatever it took, he was going to make sure they would be able to get back home. But first, he was exhausted.

* * *

 

**[PTA]**

Bruce had no idea what was happening. There were so many versions of himself and so many other odd things about this - but it wasn't until he saw one of the versions of himself start to shift, seeing the change of color in his skin and the sound of his bones growing and cracking, that panic immediately set in. He moved quickly toward the child he spotted earlier; a kid with a mess of curly brown hair and round glasses in a paternal fear that he still wasn’t used to after having five kids.

It was his instinct to scoop the boy into his arms and corral him away from what was happening. His heart pounded in his chest, and he had to resist the urge to ask what the _fuck_ was going on.

He couldn’t swear; there were children present.

 

**[ROBBIE]**

In his survey of the room, Robbie most definitely did not miss the teenager transforming into a large green monster. Who _were_ these people? Small, dark eyes flitted from face to face, scanning each one for any hint of what might be going on. A lot of them looked similar, sans a few notable exceptions. There was the man who towered over everyone else, his skin a shade of green. A shade eerily similar to that of the being who was transforming - wait. _Wait._ What if these were all versions of the same people? It was a bold idea, and unlikely. But it was the only logical explanation he could put to it. Assuming they were still adhering to any form of ‘logic.’

Halfway through trying to figure out how he got into this situation, Robbie was picked up by one of the others. Big hands around his waist, all too familiar. Too tight, squeezing the bruises that were already there. Immediately, out of some gut instinct, he flailed his small limbs and scrambled to get out of his grasp. Eyes once wide with curiosity were now alert with fear. He landed with a small thump on the floor and shifted away, careful not to take his eyes off the man - and preparing for what pain was sure to come.

 

**[PTA]**

Bruce’s attention was brought down to the sudden whirl of limbs that was the boy in his arms, and then the _dread_ that filled him when the kid fell. He felt panicked, and if _he_ felt panicked, then he could only assume that this child was feeling the same. He knelt down, cheating himself out, trying not to box the little boy in, but still wanting to protect him.

“It’s okay, you’re okay— I didn’t mean to pick you up without asking, I just don’t want you to get hurt, okay?” He said carefully, glancing around the room at everyone. Some of them were _green_ and _big_ and like nothing he’d ever seen before. “I just want you to be okay, okay? My name is Bruce - what’s yours?”

Robbie staggered to his feet as if his life depended on it, and took a few steps away from the man, viewing him with wide, fretful eyes as he all but stumbled into another - who looked just as similar, if not more scruffy and - were those _claws?_ A man with claws was simultaneously the weirdest thing that was happening right now _and_ the most normal.

He issued a quick and hushed apology before diverting his gaze to the more prominent sight: A teenager turning bigger and a similar shade of green. He blanched. His face was nearly as white as the man in the lab coat’s knuckles. He had to be the one that brought them here. At this point, Robbie was very desperately hoping this was just a nightmare.

 

Bruce looked at the child, gently holding out a hand to him. “Will you trust me for now?” He asked gently. “You have every right to be scared, but I promise I’ll protect you here, okay? I’m just as scared and confused as you are.” He said, gently closing his fingers, keeping his pinky extended. “Pinky promise?”

 

The man was, from what Robbie could figure, was talking to him in that soft, hushed way adults used for kids when something was decidedly not right. Almost like chewing on cotton balls; soothing in theory, awful in practice. It took a while to consider that the man may not have any ill intentions behind his actions. Now that the idea seemed to be a possibility, he ran it over and decided that made the most sense, out of everything that was happening.

Robbie, of course, didn’t immediately trust him, but that was only to be expected. He didn’t take the man’s (Bruce, apparently) pinky, but he _did_ offer a small nod of understanding in return.

“‘M Robbie,” he said in response to Bruce’s prior question.

Looking just past him, his eyes focused on the green figure in curiosity, he took a few cautious steps forward.

 

Bruce lowered his hand, accepting the nod.  If this really was him as a child, he remembered exactly what it was like meeting new people, _especially_ adult men. Never easy, rarely fun or comfortable, and he supposed grabbing this kid before even talking to him wasn’t very much in his favor, either.

“It’s nice to meet you, Robbie.”  He said, glancing over to the looming green figure across the room. He allowed Robbie to move, though was keeping an eye on him. If it were his own kids, he’d scoop them up and go, but he wasn’t this child’s parent. He couldn’t make those kinds of decisions for him. He could only do his best to try and keep Robbie safe while they were stuck here.

 

**[BRYNN]**

Brynn had shifted her way onto her feet, using the wall as a steadying force. What could she do? Everyone seemed to be mad, scared, panicked, or some mix of all three.  
Well, there was a kid. And he was probably more scared than any of the adults, who at least had some idea of what was happening and who these people were. So, she inched her way towards the kid - and the calm man with a sort of fatherly energy to him.  
She cleared her throat, and wiped her eyes, crouching a bit. “Hi, kid.” Smiled as best she could, trying to give a sure, warm facade as real as possible. “What’d you say your name was? Robbie? That’s a nice name."

 

**[ROBBIE]**

Robbie’s eyes flitted from the one who had scooped him up before, to the one that reprimanded him for walking towards the green muscular being, to the one with long hair who he thought looked a lot like mom. It was tricky to keep track of all these faces without names.

He wasn’t exactly _overjoyed_ with the number of eyes falling on him. In fact, the attention felt like a little too much. It was better if he was invisible. He nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Cautiously, he muttered in an almost inaudible whisper, mostly just talking to himself, “Where am I?”

From what he could gather from the surroundings, it was some type of shelter or bunker. No windows. Concrete walls. The works. Lab Coat Guy was probably the one who brought them all there; if he wanted answers, he was the guy to talk to.

 

**[BRYNN]**

Brynn hadn’t realized how dry her lips felt until she rubbed them together, somewhat uncomfortable in the situation. What could she say? He was just her but as a little boy. (Her mother’s voice jerked into her head, whispering, shrieking, _So he’s just like you, then. Just. Like. You._ )  
She took a few deep breaths, and looked a bit above Robbie’s head; the eye contact, however brief, was a bit much. “We’re... We’re in a different world.” A bit blunt, but what else could she say? They were. “But the Bruce from here seems to have some answers for us.” She turns, standing and giving the original doctor a look that roughly translated to _I’m not mad, just disappointed in your choices._

 

**[PTA]**

_._ The father looked up at Brynn before looking back to Robbie. He kept himself in a squat, still careful not to crowd the boy. He looked at Brynn again, making a bit of an uneasy face, knowing _he_ didn’t have the answer. “Do you know?” He asked her lightly.

 

**[ROBBIE]**

Robbie offered a glance to the woman’s remark of being in a different world that, had he been around fifteen or so years older, might have read as ‘no shit, Sherlock’. Instead, it radiated a softer energy. Sometimes adults just didn’t understand, even if they were just alternate universe versions of yourself. Why was he the only kid here, anyway? Not that he minded, but it seemed like a good question.

“But _geographically_ where are we?” He shot an inquisitive glance. Surely _someone_ had answers, right? But not the people he had been talking to. He slowly made his way to the group of people congregated around Gardening Gloves and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation without any of them noticing. _Tried_ being the keyword.

* * *

 

**[LYCANTHROPE]**

Bruce stands on shaky feet, though his legs almost buckle beneath him when he manages to get vertical. There are a lot of heartbeats, and a lot of breaths, a lot of smells. Too much, too much, _too much_. He claps his hands over his ears before his brain overflows. His nails scratch into his scalp from how hard he clutches his head. The scent of his blood is added to the cocktail of scents constricting his mind. Bruce breathes through his mouth and looks around.  
The room is grimy, the floors covered in a layer of dust. Tech whirs everywhere, and that high pitched squeal that rings at a frequency only he can hear emanates from the various machinery, reverberating through his head like a bad case of tinnitus. He feels like he just woke up after a bad full moon, where his skin itches and burns with every touch and his heart wants to leap into his throat and escape out his mouth. There are people everywhere, people who bear an awful resemblance to his physiognomy. One of, of _him_ is taller than the rest, in a grayish shade that could either really be gray or green. Some are women, some are children. Some are in lab coats, others in what appear to be gardening gloves, all wearing clothing wholly unsuitable to this situation, as if they had been removed from their current activities and brought here. Makes sense; that's what happened to him. But where _was_ here?  
Everyone began to speak, and their voices melded and mixed into a din that squirmed its way past the blockade of his hands and into his eardrums. He began to freak out.  
He's freaking out. And now he can't breathe, he can't breathe. Oh _God_ , he can't breathe! If his hands weren't nailed over his ears he would be flapping them to calm down, rubbing them together, stimming. But he can't. So he freaks out and just doesn't breathe.

The sound of bones shifting, horrible cracks like the sound of tree limbs snapping, shocks him out of panicked limbo. Bruce’s hands fell from his ears, and he watches as one of them starts to turn. Were they all like him, then? Werewolves? Was it the full moon? If it was, why wasn’t he transforming...?  
“Wh-“ he coughs, clearing the blockade of nervousness from his throat, “What’s going on...?”

Bruce flinches when something bumped into him — not something, _someone_ — the child that he had noticed before. Too much stuff was happening, too many sights sounds touches smells. He tried to make himself speak but he couldn’t, his throat locked up when he tried.

Bruce digested numbers to calm down. Thought of four-digit figures and factored and squared and square rooted them backwards and forwards and sideways. It helped him focus. _Focus, Banner_ , his mind grinds out, as if through clenched teeth -  it’s a struggle to think with the scents and sounds and sights and - no, no worrying, just numbers. 54 squared was 2916. Square root of 3054 was 55.263. _Now is no time to be freaking out. Just ignore the heartbeats, you know how..._  
The drumming of hearts fades out.  
Much like how Bruce usually figures things out, he notices the details first: computers, unforgiving concrete floor, no windows, papers strewn here and there. This was an underground lab, probably. He's been in underground labs before, and suffice to say he was not overly fond of them. But the people here looked like him, if slightly greener, smaller, or the opposite gender, so he doubts they would torture him like they had, like _He_ had. There was a man by the computers. His appearance was eerily similar to Bruce's - he doesn't think he could get used to that, really. He wore a lab coat, bags were under his eyes, and was that guilt, on his face? Probably. Maybe. He was bad at that sort of stuff. Was that the man who brought them here?

* * *

 

**[DOC]**

It took everything in her to watch this play out. Because frankly, while her legs said 'go and help', her feet remained planted, cemented down like a mafia pair of shoes. It was a reminder, a strong urge to protect the self, but mostly suffocating on a sense that there was already so much going on; the best solution was 'stay out of the way'. Someone was busting out. Someone was hulking out. Someone was a kid. It was chaos. It was being handled, but externally she appeared stressed - but quiet. Tense mostly.  
Okay, the kid was being handled. Some other kid was being handled. Best to sit tight. Somehow amongst the chaos, the scientist settled down, relaxed somewhat. Settled. They were every bit likely to do actual damage, but should that happen, it's not like _she'd_ have to deal with it. Not for long. Hulk would handle it, which is less good as a solution, but hey. Whatever.  
Should she settle with a flare to get attention or would it make things worse? Probably.  
Doc searched for some clip in her jacket pocket. Please let it be there... Shit. It wasn't. Wait. _Wait._ Back pocket. Yes. And there it was. A tap of a tiny money clip and a small five-foot shield popped up. The action was getting too close for comfort by the original machinery that got them there. No use in wrecking it. If anything, it's the only logical, instinctive thought she had rattling around that seemed in any way productive. So a clear, blue personal shield popped up, covering the main works.  
She spoke, trying to be loud but appearing calm... enough. Calm compared to this. _Mess_. "I'll hold the fort! De-escalate the situation."

 

**[70s]**

David was on the brink of a panic attack. _Breathe_ . He'd seen some weird things in life, hell, he _was_ a weird thing with The Creature, but right now he was feeling like he’d stepped into a newsstand comic book.

_Exhale, deeper breath._ That guy had just metamorphosed into something similar to The Creature... but bigger.  Who _were_ these people? Some looked similar to each other, and some were even green. Did they all share the same affliction he did? _Exhale. "Okay, I'm fine, we're good, we're calm-"_  He rubbed the daze from his eyes as he got up.  

He half-hobbled to the young woman who just made that bold declaration, who was now setting up a shield of some sorts. "What exactly _is_ this _situation_ , and is there any way I can help?"

 

**[BROTHERS]**

Knowing his brother could handle himself with a gamma mutant kid, Bruce turned to the two who spoke.  
"I think this is an alternate dimension. I theorized something like this was possible when I studied the Bifrost.” Bruce turned to the man who looked very similar to him- _and wasn’t that just jarring?_ \- and gave a weak smile. "And if the pattern I'm picking up on is right, we're all different versions of the same person."

He shrugged. "Now whoever’s responsible, I'd like to have a few words with…” His smile took on an annoyed edge.

 

**[MCU]**

Bruce blinked a few times, just watching the others in a state of confusion. He had no clue what was happening and his mind was rushing to try and figure it out. With no luck at the moment of course. When he noticed a child starting to turn into his version of hulk he closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with a sigh.

“Oh god, why did you have to go towards the weird thing on the ground? Everyone knows you stay away from weird things...” When one of the many Banners spoke about wanting a word with who was responsible he raised his head and nodded.

“Yeah, I’d like a word too. I’ve gotta get home. Y’know...my dimension or whatever....”

 

**[BECK]**

"Agreed. It's only Banner's in here. Which is why none of us have anything to fear, right?" Beck kept his voice raised but level, trying to ensure that everyone relaxed at least somewhat.

He was surprising himself with how calm he was managing to be, despite feeling like his insides had turned inside out. So many unfamiliar feelings churning at once: fear, mourning, disbelief, and above all, a desire to protect them. He turned to the first one he noticed, the one at the controls. "How did this happen, Bruce?" Soft, non-judgmental. Never judgementel.

 

**[DOC]**

While she absorbed and appreciated the rational feedback, she glared daggers at the one who seemed responsible. She was calm, but calm did not mean "not angry". No, she was livid. Seething, but she still kept her wits about her.  
While the hybridized green one spoke with little judgment, she refused to drop her shielding just yet. Her tone lowered, ripe with disapproval. "Yeah," she griped, "how'd this happen? I can figure a how, but what I wouldn't do for a _why_."

Eyes turned to look at her. Fuck. This was not what she wanted. _Drop shield?_ She kinda didn't want to, but a reminder and a quick scan and drop of eyes later, she dropped the shield with a small twist of her lips.

 

**[EARTH X]**

Bruce scanned the room. Everything was volatile right now. He could feel the thick gamma energy in the air crackle. He was torn right now, half immensely interested by the possibility of several versions of himself in one room, but the other half of him was already running through all the negatives that could come with this scenario.  
  
He had decided to hop on his Hulk’s shoulders, giving the gorilla a silent command to stay away, not wanting any of the other Banners to freak out anymore then what was already happening as he approached the group.  
  
“So...” He didn’t know what to say. “I suppose it doesn’t shock me that one of us would have eventually done something like this.”

 

**[DOC]**

"It doesn't surprise me at all frankly. Traveling around universes is nothing. Royally fuc--" Doc paused, huffing out in correction, "-- _screwing_ it up is another thing though. Especially of this level." She spotted that kid. She did. "I'm nearly positive all of us had better things to do than be here today." She shot another glare at the man responsible. He knows what he did.

 

**[LYCANTHROPE]**

“Ah,” Bruce stutters, speaking up, “I didn’t.” When you practically lost your life at the end of each moon cycle, one tends to not do much of anything except survive. There are no friends to be had, no hobbies to be pursued, no ambitions to chase. Everything circled around eating and sleeping and looking over your shoulder every five minutes.

 

**[616]**

Bruce felt more and more eyes boring into him. His heart was pounding in his chest. He tensed, holding up his hands in a form of surrender and backing up a step.  
"Look, I- I know. I was desperate, stupid, _sorry_." What did they expect him to do, explain his entire life story? "I didn't... This did _not_ go as planned. I intended to isolate one or two of you with a higher probability of _having_ \- a cure. Keep the bridge open, record my information, run some tests, send you back." He winced once the words came out of his mouth, realizing this was taking self-experimentation to a whole new, ethically-dubious-at- _best_ level.  
He locked eyes with the tall green one, the first who addressed him. Instinctively Hulk told him he's trustworthy, warm, and for once, Bruce _listened_.  
"Look, evidently that didn't work. My machinery's fried, but everything’s backed up, I can get everything up and running again in a couple days if all of you just stay calm. Please."  
_Ha! Fat chance!_

_I know, I know._ What the hell did he _do_ , unleashing a dozen new _hims_ into the world? They already had a hulked-out kid, and he didn’t even know if this was _stable_. This was what he got for rushing things.

 

**[BROTHERS]**

Hearing Labcoat explain made Bruce pause. "Cure? A cure for what?" He spared a brief glance at his brother- smiling slightly - before returning his attention fully to the gathering group of calm people.

 

**[ROBBIE]**  

Robbie not-so-subtly tried to listen to the others’ conversations. At the mention of a ‘cure’, he furrowed his brow. What kind of cure was he looking for? Maybe Labcoat was an... he couldn’t think of the word, but it was someone who studied diseas- epidemiologist! _That_ was the word! Maybe he was an _epidemiologist_ looking for a cure and accidentally brought them all here to help get a solution? Yeah. That made sense. Ok. But what disease, though?

He piped up a small, “What are you trying to cure?”

 

**[616]**

_Oh, shit, the kid._ Bruce froze for a second. He bore a striking resemblance to Robbie; he _wasn’t_ , but if Bruce knew anything about the multiverse, any kid with the curse of the Banner name wasn’t going to take kindly to learning this. Bruce could _tell_ , even just from the way he carried himself. _Bruce_ deserved the guilt, but he _knew_ the kid didn’t.

How was he supposed to put this without completely freaking him out? He was all but useless at calming his own down.  
Explain himself, right, he's got this. Something calm washed over him and he tried to relax his stance a bit, making eye contact for a second; not too long, he didn't want to spook. Just enough to acknowledge him.

He took an educated guess: "Robbie, uh- if you go by that- I had an accident in my universe, and the way it works around here, some people develop powers when they have accidents. It's just genetics like anything else."  
He paused, trying to cobble the words together without using the words "monster" or "time bomb". "There's... a lot of people like me, but mine are really intense, really powerful, so I have a lot of people after me trying to replicate it - you catch my drift, kid? I'm trying to get rid of it so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands."

Well, it wasn’t a _lie_. It just wasn’t the whole truth.  
"I couldn't find a cure on my own, so I tried to find someone in another universe who could help and-" he glanced sheepishly at the woman in the gardening gloves. "-Evidently I, uh, messed up."

 

**[DOC]**

"Yes," Doc started. "He did." She said with a cold look, deadpanned to the situation,  brow slightly raised in lighter judgment. Much more internal processing was going on under the front, however; it leads to a faint softening of features and a sigh. Honestly, it took a lot of dickery to make Hulk consider a reminder of being nicer.  
"But he about summed that up correctly. An invitation could have done more good, but we're past it now." Hard to be intimidating in flowery garden gloves.  
Another quick sigh, and eye daggers dulled. "I can have your operation back in a day. At most. I've played this game before." No malice in her tone now. Just compliant tiredness. Acceptance of the weirdness of the universe.  
"I didn't cure it per se - not the way I think you're trying it."

 

**[70s]**

David perked up at the mention of _"cure"_. You didn't need to be a genius to see this was the advanced future ("future" was still something he was getting used to). To think of the opportunity... he'd spent more than a year as the only one looking for a cure for something only _he_ was afflicted by. Now he was in a room of people, like him, no, they _were_ him, all searching for the same thing he was. He spoke to the labcoat-clad gentleman. "This accident, what was it? What were you exposed to?" _Just how much of me_ **_are_** _you_? David thought to himself.

 

**[LYCANTHROPE]**

Bruce didn’t know how to feel about this situation. After the initial panic, and the overstimulation, and everything, he wasn’t all that mad. There wasn’t really anything in his dimension that tethered him to it, no anchor of sentimentality. No family, no friends, no lover. Just Ross and his infinite tanks and infantry. Just the moon and her infinite cycle of waxing and waning pain and anguish. Just more and more bodies piled up at his feet every month. Perhaps...perhaps he could stay.  
However, something confused him about all this. There was an overwhelming amount of gray (or green?) in the room, and not any of that recognizable smell that accompanied wolves. Just human, with a hint of something bitter, like pure energy.

Bruce turned to face the child who had bumped into him before when Lab Coat addressed him as Robbie. _Robbie_ , Robbie like what Bruce called himself when he was small, because he liked the way it rolled off of Mom's tongue, and because it didn't have the harsh sting that _Robert_ did when Dad yelled at him. He recognized the child now, saw his features reflected in the young face of the kid. It made sense it took him so long to find the resemblance, his eyesight was horrid; he hadn't had glasses since the Accident.  
Returning his stare to Lab Coat, he asked: "So...what, then? You turn into a wolf too? Why are you _gray_?"  
If this Bruce hadn't managed to find a cure, then what did that mean for him?

 

**[616]**

"Alright, alright, that's enough questions!" Bruce put his hands up, taking a step back.  
"A _wolf_? Gray?" He looked the one in the beanie up and down. He _did_ look vaguely canid, now that he realized it. "You're a werewolf." He noted blandly. "Limited color vision, then? No, I just... turn into..." He wove a vague hand in the hulked-out kid’s direction. "No full moon business, though recently it sometimes only works at night."  
"And yes, I-" He turned to face the one in bell bottoms. "Years ago. We were testing a gamma bomb I built - _protip for the future, kid, don't work for the military_ \- and this idiot teenager was out there. I threw him into the trench before it went off and... You know the rest. You?"  
It _almost_ sounded like he was interested in making conversation. May as well use the resources he had now if they were all stuck here, gather as much information as possible. He wasn’t going to try anything on anyone against their will, but from the looks of it, the man was just as desperate for a cure as he was.

The other Bruce flinched at the word _werewolf_ , at being found out so easily. His fingers trembled and he ran them through his hair, a nervous tic that absolutely _wasn’t_ similar to being pet in any way. His nails got caught on tangles less than halfway down. _Werewolf_. Not human. A monster, a killer. Too many of the words that ran through his head during bad nights that had been unburied now. Too many of the words Ross and Dad used while inflicting their own type of torture. Abomination, freak, _werewolf, werewolf werewolf_. If anything, that was the word that represented his failures, his regrets. His shitty life. He hated being reminded of that. His life was unbearable already without it being weighed down by guilt.  
He doesn’t respond to Lab Coat. He doesn’t think he’s capable.

 

**[DOC]**

Finally getting an answer, she nodded a little, taking it all in. Yep, that story checked out to the T on her behalf, even down to the warning to not work for the military. She pulled a snarl in agreement at the disdain for them. It pulled into a smirk considering all the shit she did to piss off the military the entire time she served working there. She wanted to say the teenager's name, but it felt hollow and sad, even if there was time to grieve and she used it.  
"Rick Jones," she very quietly added, eyes shifting down a moment. " ...The nighttime factor recently hasn't been working in my favor either lately.  I haven't been able to work with it too well."

 

**[ROBBIE]**

The military. Superheroes. And werewolves, apparently. Alright, ok. The weight of everything that was happening just now threatened to crush him into a pancake. Maybe now was a good time to start flipping out. Just maybe. Possibly.

So most, if not all, versions of himself in the future had been exposed and irradiated by gamma rays. And for some reason, it would make them turn into a big, green, huge person. Ok. He really hadn’t intended on going into the military in the first place. How did he end up there? Funding? Dad yelled about not having enough of that, among other things. Was he destined to be like his older counterparts?

Before Robbie could become too swallowed in his train of thought, he stood still as a baseboard and questioned, “What do you guys do for a job?”

 

**[PTA]**

Bruce listened to everyone, brow twitching slightly as he just took everything in. He looked between everyone before looking back at Robbie again, offering him a small smile. "I'm a professor at a college. I teach science." He said, keeping it simple enough, he hoped, though happy to answer any further questions if he had any.  "I'm also a full-time dad."

 

**[70s]**

He nodded as he listened to the rest of the group. He could see how they were all similar now. Gamma and an uncontrollable creature were the common factors. The man in the lab coat had _saved_ that boy in his story—a hero—but with a cost. It was almost funny when he thought about it in comparison to his own. Here was everyone else, for the most part, heroic and confident, and here he was, a coward who could never manage to save anyone and was scared of himself.

"Well, where I'm from I'm- I was a doctor." He pursed his lips, then continued to speak. "I have to admit that this mess _is_ my fault - with, um, the help of some malfunctioning machinery. I just- I wanted to see if I could be stronger. But I... messed up. Now I can't live a normal life anymore."  

He wanted to leave it at that, even if it did make him look stupid. He didn’t want to tell them his selfish sob story, though he could tell they knew there was more to it. So he was silent.

 

**[BROTHERS]** **  
** "Werewolf... okay, whatever, might as well happen," Bruce sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I was working on a bomb, too. None of my other projects were getting funded, so I took the job. On the day of testing, I was late that morning and forgot my phone and wallet. My brother, David- " He gestured with his head to his brother, who seems to be handing the teenager well, "-went to the base to give it to me... he got lost and got onto the testing site. I ran out to try and warn him but... we got caught in the blast..." Bruce gave a sad smile before it morphed into a confused frown at Gardner Woman’s explanation. "Rick Jones? That's... my intern. He's a smart kid.” He gave a proud smile.

 

**[BECK]**

Beck swallowed, resisting the urge to just scoop up all these poor people and never let them go. He had to be gentler than that, though. Yet, he saw opportunity in this. Opportunity to show his other selves kindness, to show them that it can be okay—thing like that. But it had to be done carefully, not all at once. "I-- my story’s closer to you guys." He gestures to 'Labcoat' and 'Gardener'. "I think I'm from a little farther in the future. And, uh-- I'm integrated. Fully. I'm you, Hulk-- everyone combined. I'm still you but-- new. Different. My name's still Bruce, but you can call me Becquerel or Beck if that's easier." He looked around at everyone. "I'm really happy to see you all." And he smiled, and he really, really meant it.

 

**[DOC]**

Fully. Integrated. What the hell was that supposed to feel like? What did it _look_ like? She had been toying with the idea, trying it, but it seemed difficult - almost impossible. And yet... Somehow, he did it. Who knows how long it took. It certainly was something to digest, considering it turned her insides out a bit considering it. Wasn't that the goal? The whole point? And yet, it hurt to consider losing those parts, to lose the comfort of hiding away when it was too hard.  
"You.... certainly are. Of some kind." It was a stunted response. "I think I'll stick to your _preference_ here, if not to make things a little clearer, Beck. ...Thank you." She swallowed a lump in her throat professionally.  
Oh, Becquerel. What a name choice, but she got it. Nice.  
Answer the kid. Answer someone. "I'm a nuclear physicist, as is likely a common case. I work on environmental and humanitarian projects now. "  
God, "Beck's" smile seemed so damn sincere, it slightly untwisted her guts. What a sight to see.  
The words "Combined... everyone", oh they haunted. What on Earth was that supposed to be like? She furrowed her brows, but reserved herself more to listening again.

 

**[70s]**

"Do we all have the name Bruce? That's my middle name - I go by David, by the way..." he added, changing the subject. This was shaping up to be one of the most interesting things he'd fallen - literally - into. It was like a full sci-fi novel, the kind he used to read as a kid. He'd never considered the multiverse theory to actually be something outside of sci-fi. He wasn't that kind of doctor after all. But then again, the lines between fiction and non-fiction had become flimsy after his accident.

 

**[ROBBIE]**

Okay. He really hadn’t gotten an answer from everybody, but that was only to be expected. Everyone was (mostly) in the ending stages of freaking out, from what little cohesion he could make of the situation at hand. A lot of people went by the name ‘Bruce’, so maybe he started going by his middle name later in life? It wasn’t unheard of by any means. Just a little weird that that was such a common trend. But the David’s and the Beck? That came completely out of left field.

Still not the strangest thing to come out of the day, though. Not by a long-shot. He turned to look over the faces, that so happened to be much taller than him, and lingering on each for a few seconds before turning to the next one. “I think so,” he added quietly, “it’s my middle name.”

 

**[70s]**

David looked at the small child. _God, what must be going through this poor kid's head right now?_ He knelt to eye level with... what was this kid’s name again? He was so small, he'd barely been getting a word in edgewise in this chaos. He gave the kid a warm smile. "That’s your middle name too? Well, that’s neat kiddo, looks like we match!"

The kid looked so shy, David had the urge to reach out and ruffle his curls the way his mom had when he was a kid, but something told him the child didn't take kindly to being touched.

 

**[ROBBIE]**

“I think we all do. Or most of us, at least,” Robbie amended and tried to keep up with the mental tally of who had what names. Why was everyone being so nice to him? It felt strange for everyone to be treating him with kid gloves. He was five. He could read and tie his own shoes and do a couple of other things.

 

**[BROTHERS]**

"Uhh, I go by Bruce too, but considering how trendy that seems to be right now, you guys can call me Atomic. That's my Avenger name." Bruce squinted suddenly, and realized he wasn’t wearing his glasses... and _then_ realized that his glasses were still in his universe. Damn. With a little huff, he reached over to his watch on his uniform and double-tapped the face, before bringing his left wrist up to his face and letting the nanotech form a pair of his prescription glasses.

"Since there is already a David here, my brother will have to deal with you calling him Hulk." he winked with a smile.

 

                          **[DOC]**                        

"Most of us sounds about right, Kid." She spoke over the weird cluster about her. "Call me..." a paused, ever so brief, punctuated with a sigh in decision making, "Well, call me "Doc". It has to be easier given the... situation at hand."

 

**[616]**

Bruce took a moment to let it all soak in. So many versions of him, all different, yet all so similar. The werewolf, so nervous and on-edge and even more disheveled than he, so reminiscent of his old days on the run he’d almost thought he'd plucked himself from a decade in the past. The brothers, so different, and separate, but together in a whole different way. It's strange to see them _outside_ and getting along like family. And then _Becquerel_ , integrated, confident, _kind_. Bruce didn't think it was even possible. It twisted his gut, but not wholly in a bad way.  
  
But there was a weird feeling of wrongness, of the sadness they all carried in the air, and it was just starting to hit him how surreal this was. He’d talked to alternate selves before, but nowhere near this many. Thank _God_ for the kid, really; Bruce had a feeling Robbie was the only thing keeping them all from going at each other's throats. Honestly, it was weirdly reminiscent of being in his own head.  
  
Twenty minutes into this disaster and he was already feeling more introspective and self-aware than he’d been in months. Terrible.  
  
He offered a hand to the kid, and gave a gentle smile. "You can just call me Bruce. If that's too confusing I'll uh, think of something else."

 

**[MCU]**

Bruce couldn’t believe this. There were so many of... well, of him. He hadn’t meant to be so silent but he figured he needed more information before speaking again. He looked around the room and listed all the Banners he saw. When he glanced at a small child he sighed deeply. Hoping the little boy had a better childhood than he had. He almost wanted to go introduce himself to one of the other Hulks, Bruces....Banners. Whatever they were or their story. He was a little lonely if he was going to be honest, suddenly having everything taken away from him and then what little remained being left behind in another dimension.

 

**[LYCANTHROPE]**

The din died down gradually, until it morphed into nothing but a frail murmur. The kid - who had been large and green some time before - was calm, normal. Robbie seemed fine. Everything seemed fine - well, as fine as things could be with 11 versions of yourself in the room. His ears were no longer flooding from a tsunami of noise, and he could focus.  
Focus. _Calm down, Banner. Can’t think when you’re like this. Need to think._  
Something pestered him at the back of his mind, a ghost of a thought, a mere specter, but important despite its ambiguity.  
And then it hit him.  
“What...what moon phase is tonight?” he needed to know. His colorblindness was in full swing, so it must be somewhat close to the full moon - but was the moon waxing or waning, getting closer to or further from a transformation?

 

She nodded at the wolf very passively. "I wish I could say I knew, but until we get out of this setup, I say it's best we revisit that thought." She waved, a gesture to the room of - Jesus - well, a lot of "unique" people going on. "I'm sure we'll have this covered. If that doesn't work, I'm sure I could come up with _something_ \-- whether the easy way or hard way."

It wasn't said like a threat, just passively a note that _someone_ could handle a wolf. Or they all become werewolves. Really, there were weirder things that could happen. That's a call to Dr. Strange later back home to undo if need be. Well, a rather threatening phone call. Same thing in Doc's world.  
"Still," she paused. "--It might be a good idea to sit down. ...W _herever_ you can _fit,_ that is."

 

Bruce laughed, though it sounded less like a laugh and more like a rasp, as if he were clearing dust out of his throat. It was an arid sound, dry, sardonic. His fingers trembled and his tongue pressed itself against his teeth until could taste the coppery tang of blood.  
“Yeah, that helps, thanks - but I would appreciate it if you would treat this a little bit more seriously,” he smiled, baring his teeth, “It could be a full moon tonight and I wouldn’t even know, you wouldn’t even be able to _prepare_. I could -“ his voice choked off, like it just walked off a cliff, and the next sentence emerged as a whisper, “I could kill you all tonight and there’s nothing I could’ve done about it.”

 

**[616]**

Bruce frowned at the werewolf. That feeling of crushing guilt, feeling like a time bomb about to go off, was one he'd been well acquainted with. Maybe he had better control now than at the beginning, but it was still _there._ At least, it seemed, the wolf could track his transformations with the phases of the moon. Small perks, right?  
  
"Well, I can't die, so good luck with that," Bruce quipped, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's a waxing gibbous. You have a couple days and uh," Hm. How should he put this? "If you're worried, I have a reinforced cage in the floor below for my bad days. You're welcome to stay when it gets closer. I think we of all people understand."

 

Bruce deflated in relief. “Thanks,” he gave a wan smile.

 

**[BROTHERS]**

David scrunched his face up in confusion. "Cage? Why would you need a cage?"

 

Bruce nodded along. "What are you all talking about?"

 

**[70s]**

"For your own inner creature, correct?" David directed this towards... Bruce? The one in the lab coat.

 

"I'll have to second what he said. A cage isn't a bad idea, but you can try it if you want, but I don't recommend the efforts." She huffed. Her closest counterpart was stunningly right. Who didn't keep a cage? A room? Something? "I'd just come back in the morning."

 

Bruce gave a quick smile back. "Yeah. I can give refreshments, stuff to tear up, whatever. I have a bunch of old furniture for Hulk to take it out on when things get bad."

  
He looked at David. "...Yeah. Something like that," and then turned to the brothers, curious, "Do you two not have Hulks? Well, I suppose it makes sense."

 

"Hulks”? My hero name is Hulk. Y'know “The Incredible Hulk, strongest there is!” that was my stage name..." David was incredibly confused now

 

**[BECK]**

“Generally speaking, one’s gamma form is referred to as a ‘hulk’, in reference to the first discovered gamma mutate, us. Gamma transformations are affected by the subconscious, which made our other personalities come to the forefront with their own bodies.” Beck explained as simply as he could. "And he isn’t bad. He is—was— a child. Angry and confused and in a body he didn’t understand.”

 

"Well, in my universe, they've called it ‘monster’," David spoke, recalling the multiple newspaper headlines McGee had printed.

 

“Psh,” Bruce snorted in disdain, “the Wolf is definitely a monster no matter how you put it.”

**[BROTHERS]**

And in a second David was in his own world.  
_Monster_  
David's anxiety spiked.  
**Monster**  
The world faded.  
_"You freak monster kids! Why can't you be normal! Act right!"_  
Dad was mad.  
_"Act like a lady!"_  
Dad kept hitting him.  
**Monster**  
Dad hurt mom and Bruce too.  
_"Disgusting freak!"_  
And it was _his_ fault.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> expect the next update next week! it's all written, its just that editing it is a, how you say, bitch

**Author's Note:**

> none of us know what we're doing, but we sure are doing it
> 
> (join the hulkfam discord!)


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